LIHU‘E — Jessica DeMoss found herself in need of a new companion after her terrier pit bull mix passed away.
Mourning the loss of her pet, DeMoss, a Kapa‘a resident, felt the despair brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and thought it was time to foster a new animal.
She chose to foster an American staffordshire terrier she found at the Kaua‘i Humane Society.
DeMoss is just one of many owners looking to adopt or for fosters since the COVID-19 pandemic has confined people to their homes, according to KHS Executive Director Mirah A. Horowitz.
Since the pandemic, Horowitz and the KHS crew have found themselves busier than ever, she said.
The KHS has had 61 adoptions of animals in four weeks, and 109 fosters, which includes 26 dogs fostered just on one Tuesday afternoon.
These adoptions were finalized via webcam since the KHS closed its doors to in-person viewings of pets on March 25 due to CODIV-19.
“It’s a huge number (of animals in foster),” Horowitz said. “I can’t even think of a time that we had this many animals in foster care, pre-COVID-19.”
Horowitz says multiple factors are contributing to the local and national demand for fostering and adopting pets.
“People are at home and they have more time,” Horowitz said. “They aren’t gone 9 to 5, and the perception for a lot of pet owners is they don’t have the time to foster a dog or cat normally. That is eliminated because of the stay-at-home order.”
The increased demand in the animal-welfare industry has also created a greater need for a larger budget for KHS from the county, though officials say funding allocated to KHS will still be limited.
Currently, according to county Finance Department Director Reiko Matsuyama, KHS serves as the animal-welfare arm for Kaua‘i County. Funding from the county makes up about one-third of KHS’ revenue.
During the March 13 mayor’s budget meeting, it was proposed to fully fund KHS with a budget request for fiscal year 2020-21 of $1.28 million, a $270,000 increase, Matsuyama said in a written statement.
“Due to COVID-19, the county has had to revisit our revenue estimates for FY21, as well as pull back many of our proposals to increase revenue, some of which would have helped to fund the increase,” Matsuyama wrote in a written statement to The Garden Island.
“In our supplementary budget proposals, we are submitting a budget for the humane society that is flat to that of FY20, which totals $1,009,000.”
With the limitations of funding allocated to the KHS, they will not be able to hire a third animal-control officer truck, they will not be able to conduct as many dangerous-dog investigations and won’t be able to enforce the leash law as much as they would want because of the lack of funding, Horowitz said.
KHS’s current goal is to keep numbers low, with only three to four animal-care staff members every day. During normal operations, KHS usually has seven to eight staff members in the building every day.
“That is just the reality of the COVID-19 budget, that we aren’t going to get the increase,” Horowitz said. “We understand the position the county is in, and we continue to maintain the services at the funding level the county can provide.”
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Jason Blasco, sports reporter, can be reached at 245-0437 or jblasco@thegardenisland.com.
